NASCAR driver Danica Patrick and her husband Paul Hospenthal, who are divorcing, took a media tour in the nation's capital in February. / H. Darr Beiser, USA TODAY Sports

by Nate Ryan and Heather Tucker, USA TODAY Sports

by Nate Ryan and Heather Tucker, USA TODAY Sports

Danica Patrick is on the market again, the most eligible bachelorette on the NASCAR circuit.

The driver who has made headlines from IndyCar to NASCAR and whose image has been splashed across televisions nationwide in racy ads for sponsor Go Daddy announced on her Facebook page Tuesday that she and her husband of seven years, Paul Hospenthal, are ending their marriage.

Her relationship status on the page is not listed; the item had received nearly 3,000 comments just five hours after being posted at 3 p.m.

Patrick, 30, met Hospenthal, who is 17 years older, in 2002 when he helped her rehabilitate a hip injury.

Since they married in 2005, Hospenthal was Patrick's partner in life and in business as the most influential and trusted confidante of a small inner circle that manages her coveted brand. The transcendent star said she didn't make major decisions without consulting her husband, who built a physical therapy business in Scottsdale, Ariz., that catered to high-profile professional athletes.

Despite earning millions annually in endorsements, Patrick has eschewed buying a jet and has been known to fly coach and bank on getting a first-class upgrade. She has credited that common-sense frugality and her compact but efficient business team to Hospenthal.

"A lot of that comes from my husband," Patrick told USA TODAY Sports in a February interview before her first Daytona 500. "He's smart and has had his own company for a long time. He's just an intelligent guy. I learned from him how to take care of things. I want to have money when I retire. You don't do that by spending it all."

Patrick said that the 2011 season (split between NASCAR and IndyCar) was the first that she and Hospenthal spent alone as a married couple on the road. Her family often accompanied them while helping handle her business dealings in the years following her 2005 breakthrough as the first woman to lead the Indianapolis 500.

"We made it work really well for a while, but it's very difficult to have your parents working for you," she said. "I needed my parents and that relationship back, and I didn't want every phone call to be, 'What do they want now?' It just became a very cluttered environment without enough boundaries. So for my peace of mind and my relationship with my husband as well, we needed to give it some space."

Now she and Hospenthal will get the space.

"I am sad to inform my fans that after 7 years, Paul and I have decided to amicably end our marriage," she wrote on Facebook. "This isn't easy for either of us, but mutually it has come to this. He has been an important person and friend in my life and that's how we will remain moving forward."

The news comes at the end of Patrick's first full-time season in NASCAR. Four top-10 finishes in 33 Nationwide races with JR Motorsports helped her finish 10th in driver points - highest ever for a female driver in any of the three NASCAR series. She was voted the series' most popular driver.

She'll drive full-time for Tony Stewart's Sprint Cup team in 2013, when the line for autographs probably will be a lot longer.